The College Student
by amaya-tendo
Summary: Arthur is a good librarian who has a small crush on one of the college students that frequents it. What happens when said student leaves him a note after checking some books out?
1. Chapter 1

The library was quiet, as libraries should be. The librarian sat at his desk and surveyed his domain. Parents read to children in the cheerfully painted Children's Section. A group of teenagers worked on a project in a corner and a smattering of college students sat at the tables, studying or researching on laptops. The librarian's eyes stopped and lingered on one such student, taking in the messy blonde hair, muscled torso, and long legs before getting a hold of himself and looking instead at the computer in front of him.

'Shame on you, Arthur Kirkland,' He thought to himself. 'Creeping like that on a college student.' As he berated his self, he checked the small pile of books from the Drop Box in. he then placed them on a cart so he could return them to their proper places. As he stood up to push the cart, his eyes wondered once more to the college student. He was sucking the tip of his pen before pulling it out and writing something on the paper in front of him. Arthur gulped and shook his head. 'Stop staring…and thinking about what other things that mouth could suck on…No! Enough. Do your job.'

After giving himself a talking to, Arthur pushed the cart to the first of many aisles and began putting books away. By the time he had gotten all of the books put back into their proper places, twenty minutes had gone by. He pushed the cart back to the front desk, purposefully staring straight ahead.

When he got back to the desk, he sat back down, grabbed a few stacks of paper, and got to work. He sorted all the people with books that were overdue in alphabetical order, and placed the other sheets-books people wanted to renew- aside. As he was about to start typing the notices for the late books, a shadow fell over the papers.

Arthur raised his head to see the college student standing in front of his desk with his arms full books to check out. Arthur gulped, and then smiled. "Did you find everything alright?"

The boy smiled back. "Yeah, man. I got everything I needed."

"Good. Library card?" Arthur replied, mentally congratulating his self for not stuttering like an idiot.

"Oh, right. Hang on." The student said, setting the books on the desk and rummaging through his pockets. He pulled out a wallet with a hamburger on it, pulled out his card, and handed it to Arthur.

Arthur took it and scanned it, glancing at the name as he did so. Alfred F. Jones. He handed Alfred his card back and began checking out the books. "What are you studying, Alfred?"

"Call me AL. Everybody does. I'm studying business; I hope to have my own someday." Alfred replied, grinning broadly.

"What kind of business?" Arthur asked, as he scanned the last book and printed the receipt.

"A restaurant, I think. A place people can go to enjoy good, comforting food, family, and friends. A place to unwind, you know?"

Arthur nodded. "Sounds pretty great. I hope you succeed." He put the receipt in the book on top of the pile. "Your books are due on the 22nd."

"Thanks man. See you next time." Alfred winked, grabbed his books, and sauntered out. Arthur watched him leave, eyes drawn down to his yummy ass. When Alfred stepped outside, Arthur looked back at his desk, where he noticed a folded sheet of paper.

He looked around, and then picked it up. His name was scribbled across the front of it. His fingers shook slightly as he opened it. As he read it, his eyes widened, his face grew red, and his palms grew sweaty. He gulped and looked around again. His eyes slid back down to the paper. He folded it and slipped it into his pocket. He glanced at the clock and groaned. 7:30. An hour and a half until closing time. How the bloody hell was he going to survive?


	2. Chapter 2

Arthur worked idly as he waited for the time to pass. He had finished all the notices, had sealed them in their envelopes, and handwritten the addresses on them. They lay in a stack at the corner of the desk to be put with the rest of the outgoing mail. After that, he worked on renewing all of the books that needed to be renewed. He would pause occasionally when people wanted to check out books, or need his help finding a book they needed for a project or wanted to read. Finally, he sighed in relief and announced that the library was closed.

He watched the last of the people there wander out, then packed up his things, shut the lights off, and made his way out, locking the doors behind him as he went. He walked to his car, trying to control his pace. He got into his car, pulled out the note, and looked at it once more, trying to decide what he wanted to do. Finally, after much deliberating, he pulled his cell phone out and entered the address in the note into the GPS on it. He backed out of the parking lot and followed the directions to a small

neighborhood before stopping next to a small house.

It had a tiny yard with basketballs, a skateboard, and a bike scattered around it. There was a basketball hoop on the garage and two cars parked in the drive way. The lights were off in most of the windows, only three windows were lit, the contents inside the house hidden from view by the curtains hanging from them. Arthur took a deep breath, turned off his car, and got out. He walked up the small path leading to the door and rang the doorbell.

He waited only a few moments before he heard movement in the house and a voice calling out. A few seconds later, a slightly breathless Alfred opened the door. When he saw Arthur, a smile bloomed across his face. "You came."

"I-Yes, I did." Arthur replied. "Did you think I wasn't going to?"

Alfred blushed slightly. "Well, I wasn't sure you would. You are older than me, after all. I was afraid you would think I was joking."

"Well, I must admit, I did think that for a moment. I don't know why, but I felt like I should come see if you were joking or not." Arthur told him.

Alfred smiled at him and steps away from the door. "I'm glad you decided to come. Come on in. Shoes off by the door, if you don't mind. My brother's weird about that." 

Arthur laughs and steps inside, taking his shoes off and setting them by the door. "It's quiet alright. My mother was weird about that as well."

Alfred starts walking down a hallway, and beckons Arthur to follow him. Arthur does, and soon finds himself in a small, but cozy living room. The walls are a deep orange and the furniture looks old, but feels extremely comfortable when he sits on it. Alfred sits next to him and looks anxious. He runs a hand through his hair and sighs, seeming to gather his courage. Arthur watches him silently, waiting patiently for Alfred to speak.

Alfred looks up at him. "What did you think of what I had to say? Honestly?"

Arthur pulls out the note for a final time and looks at it. "To be honest, the first thing I thought was that it was a joke. After all, I'm a good five years older than you. Why would you want to go on a date with me? But as I sat there, I thought about how absolutely adorable I thought you were, and about all of your hopes and dreams and I thought to myself, 'I want to be apart of that. I want to see him make his dreams come true. That's when I decided to come out here to meet you. After that, time couldn't go fast enough."

Alfred looked decidedly less anxious as Arthur finished speaking. "Really? That's a relief." He laughed and grinned. "I, um, made some dinner, if you'd like to stay and eat."

Arthur looked at the hopeful face and smiled back. "I'd love too."

'After all,' he thought to himself, 'we've got to start somewhere.'


End file.
